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Renaming Mangal Shobhajatra sparks controversy, creates division

Published : Monday, 14 April, 2025 at 12:00 AM  Count : 611
SHAMSUL HUDA
When the nation is poised to welcome the Pahela Baishakh today, April 14, the celebrants are taken by surprise following a decision adopted by the Dhaka University's Faculty of Fine Arts.

The Faculty altered the name of the Bangla new year procession, Mangal Shobhajatra, into "Borsho Boron Anondo Shobhajatra" in a declaration in the presence of a group of dignitaries including DU's Vice-Chancellor Dr Niaz Ahmed Khan.

Now the question brews why there was such an unwarranted and uncalled for change made just on the eve of our biggest traditional event which should have been out of our religious and political discourse. While the people gear up for the day with a festive mood, the decision has polarized the nation over a trivial apolitical issue.

But it could have been avoided.

This is why the renaming of the Mangal Shobhajatra has drawn sharp rebuke and criticism from a broad section of citizenry including traditionalists, populists, experts, students and common people. Several student organisations have expressed their outrage and instantly rejected the new name of the procession. They described the change as outlandish that signals a "grave warning" to the country's tradition of free cultural practice.

Even politicians and individual intellectuals have expressed their view against such change in the national event. Prof Anu Muhammad, a former teacher at Jahangirnagar University, said that the decision did not commensurate with public opinions while Zunayed Saki, chief coordinator of Ganasamhati Andolon, was in view saying that such national festivals should be kept above controversies and politics.

What is more worrying is that what will happen now to the UNESCO recognition of the Mangal Shobhajatra? The issue had become part of our national identity in the international arena as UNESCO recognised the Mangal Shobhajatra as a World Cultural Heritage on November 30, 2016.


There is nothing wrong if something is changed in good intentions with the change of times. But in the case of renaming the Mangal Shobhajatra, one can smell a rat. Some student leaders have pinned the blame on the interim government for giving in to the communal forces in the renaming of the Mangal Shobhajatra. Mahir Reza Shahriar, President of Chhatra Union has clearly pointed to the fact of some sort of pressure exerted by the extremist religious groups in this regard.

All these suggest that members of a vested group have been lurking in the interim government to take advantage of the unstable situation in the administration. They have been trying to fish in troubled water by fomenting unrest and chaos out of phantoms by making the interim government a bulwark to serve their interests.

There have already been questions raised about the necessity of the interim government to do in addition to its routine tasks. But it has ostensibly gone out of its neutral position on many issues, proposing drastic reforms in many government machineries ranging from the electoral and justice systems to the public administration, police, anti-corruption agency and the constitution.

Even some have gone one step further demanding abolition of the current constitution, declaration of the Second Republic and the delay of the national election for an uncertain period. But they should keep in mind that these issues are only possible to get implemented by an elected government and an elected parliament through a national consensus.

The people have already witnessed a lot of changes which have been apparently made to erase some of the biggest events of our history. For this reason, history repeats itself in our country but, unfortunately, we don't learn from the history.

Earlier, the interim government announced the cancellation of eight national holidays which are somehow linked to the previous regime. Although some holidays are cancelled on some grounds, some are integral part of our history like the Historic March 7" Day, National Constitution Day on November 4 and the Smart Bangladesh Day on December 12.

People of the country, at the present time, increasingly grow restive and strongly feel that it is time that all sorts of policies and activities that create controversies and divide nation should be avoided. It is now imperative that stability and law and order must be restored at all cost to create a congenial environment in order to lead the nation towards an acceptable national election which the country expects most at the moment.

The writer is Senior Assistant Editor, the Daily Observer



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